Anthony Ware

• Doctor of Philosophy 2012
• Professor (Associate) at Deakin University

AVAILABLE FREE: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09614524.2024.2338213 Almost a million Rohingya refugees remain trapped in refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, more than six years after being driven from Myanmar. The stated policy of the international community remains voluntary repatriation. This paper lays out our argument that...

Community development approaches to peacebuilding usually focus on strengthening social cohesion, finding common ground, bringing groups together and negotiation. However, this is not always immediately safe or possible after serious intercommunal violence. The idea of ‘everyday peace’ has recently emerged in the literature, to describe the ways in...

In this chapter, the authors explore and build on this theory to discuss their attempts to operationalise it into community development practice in Rakhine State, Myanmar – a region that has seen significant intercommunal and armed conflict in recent years, resulting in two-thirds of the Rohingya population being driven into Bangladesh in an act of...

This paper examines conflict-sensitivity/DNH through the lens of everyday peace. It draws on data from a local non-government organisation program working on development and peacebuilding between Rohingya Muslim and Rakhine Buddhist communities in Rakhine State, Myanmar. That program is framed around the everyday peace concept, the social practices...

This book offers a range of critical perspectives and participatory analysis on the application of community development approaches and strategies in the context of violently contested societies. Its starting point is the belief that community development offers both theoretical and practical insights for both an understanding of the root causes of...

Introduction The dominant approach to peacebuilding at a community level, as opposed to elite-level peace processes, revolves around ideas of building or strengthening social cohesion between individuals, groups and authorities. In this context, social cohesion is conceived of in terms of overcoming horizontal social cleavages within society, and v...

The theory of everyday peace and its relevance at a theoretical level to community development in conflict-affected contexts was presented in Chapter 2. In this chapter, the authors explore and build on this theory to discuss their attempts to operationalise it into community development practice in Rakhine State, Myanmar – a region that has seen s...

Violent extremism (VE) significantly affects many contexts within which international development–humanitarian non-governmental organisations (NGOs) operate in Southeast Asia. Recent preventing/countering violent extremism (P/CVE) models highlight the need for community-based preventative activities; however, there has been little research to date...

This paper assesses the transferability of the concept of everyday peace, developed in the conflict and peace studies literature, to practices utilised by people experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV). The relevance of everyday peace to IPV is assessed by mapping typologies of the concept against behaviour that victims implement to manage and...

The concept of everyday peace largely draws on research that, to date, has sought more to explain observed social practices than inform peace interventions. This paper presents a case study of an attempt to operationalise the concept into local non-governmental organisation (NGO) programming, seeking to strengthen the formation of everyday peace be...

‘Everyday peace’ entered the literature over the past two decades, referring to ordinary people navigating everyday life in deeply divided societies, in ways that minimise conflict. Most cited is Mac Ginty’s ‘conceptual scoping’ paper, which culminates in a typology of social practices he argues constitutes everyday peace. Drawing on additional, de...

‘Do No Harm’ or ‘conflict-sensitivity’ has been mainstreamed into the planning and implementation of development-humanitarian interventions in conflict-affected situations. An umbrella term encompassing a range of frameworks and tools, all approaches involve analysing conflict dynamics in order to minimise negative impacts and maximise support for...

Norway is widely accepted as a global leader in peacemaking, due to its lengthy track record of involvement in complex peace processes. Its predilection for peacemaking is usually interpreted as a form of ‘status-seeking’ by a smaller state, aimed at enhancing Norway’s influence and reputation in the international system. However, this perception o...

Myanmar’s Rohingya conflict is arguably the most sensitive and complex issue facing the country, both in terms of the extent of physical and social destruction, and the impact on Myanmar’s domestic reform and international standing. The scale of human suffering is mind-numbing, the reactions of Aung San Suu Kyi and the Myanmar authorities baffling....

Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims have been subject to human rights abuses, been denied citizenship, and most recently, faced ethnic cleansing. Well over half the Rohingya population who use to live in Myanmar have been displaced by violence, with over a million Rohingya refugees now sheltering in Bangladesh. This conflict has become a litmus test for cha...

This chapter explores the nature of Myanmar’s ‘Rohingya’ conflict against the two most common non-material ‘grievance’ explanations in the literature, with the aim to highlight how their interplay shapes and reshapes the trajectories of the conflict: grievance based around identity (or ethnicity) and territory. The chapter highlights how the import...

Chapters Three and Four articulate the competing historical narratives and representations of memory sustaining Myanmar’s ‘Rohingya’ conflict. The last chapter examined the Rohingya ‘Origin’ historical narrative; this chapter considers the Rakhine and Burman perspectives, and interrogates them against the available historical record. This chapter d...

This chapter concludes the book by offering a discussion of the role the international community has played, and could play, in both the conflict and conflict resolution. It summarizes the most important findings from the analysis throughout the book, and explores them in the context of the recommendations made by the Kofi Annan-led Advisory Commis...

This chapter illustrates the tripartite nature of this conflict, by exploring the interrelated outbreaks of serious violence in Rakhine State, Myanmar over the past five years. These are the 2012 intercommunal violence between ethnic Rakhine and ‘Rohingya’, the 2015-16 Arakan Army armed insurgency between Rakhine and the Burman-led state, and the 2...

This chapter introduces the complexity of Myanmar’s ‘Rohingya’ conflict, and address a series of misconceptions widely held about it in the international community. It discusses the scale of recent violence, extent of displacement and degree of international condemnation, including discussion of Aung San Suu Kyi’s failure to adequately address the...

This chapter explores the nature of Myanmar’s ‘Rohingya’ conflict against concepts of a demographic security dilemma, an ethnic security dilemma, a dual minority complex, and then the question of the impact of resources through two lenses, the ‘greed thesis’ and the political economy of conflict. It examines Rohingya population growth data, and the...

Chapters Three and Four articulate the competing historical narratives and representations of memory sustaining Myanmar’s ‘Rohingya’ conflict. This chapter examines what the authors designate the Rohingya ‘Origin’ narrative, and interrogates it against the available historical record; the next chapter considers the Rakhine and Burman perspectives....

Full article also available at https://theconversation.com/what-is-the-best-way-to-respond-to-the-rohingya-crisis-boycott-sanctions-or-engagement-86932

Increasing interest in faith-based international development organisations (FBOs) recently has improved understanding of these agencies. One reason for complex, often contradictory findings is the lack of frameworks analysing the interactions of worldviews on organisational structures, processes, and behaviours of agencies, and development outcomes...

Faith can be a powerful force for positive development and social change, but as James (2011) notes, it is a highly flammable fuel that can also easily result in negative outcomes. The pervasive influence of religion in the lives of many gives it a unique ability to shape both individual and communal identities (perceptions of self and others). Whi...

Improving the well-being of poor and vulnerable communities often requires external resources and interventions. Existing resource constraints, existing social and political structures, existing environmental circumstances, and existing economic realities are often insurmountable. Vulnerable and poor communities cannot challenge or overcome them on...

Religion is not new to development. Indeed, religious institutions and individuals motivated by faith have been at the forefront of service provision since long before states and other actors became involved in development. Moreover, more than eight out of ten people self-profess religious belief. In developing countries, religious belief is often...

This paper seeks to reframe the conventional characterization of Kachin conflict which is anchored in ethnicity. Based on a series of interviews the paper focuses on how power is framed and contested in relation to processes of identification. Identity is defined as the politicised manifestation of ideological underpinnings associated with the dist...

Faith-based organisations (FBOs) have long been recognised as having an advantage in delivering programs and interventions amongst communities of the same faith. However, many FBOs today work across a variety of contexts, including with local partners and communities of different faiths. Likewise, secular NGOs and donors are increasingly partnering...

This paper explores the secessionist aspects to the Muslim-Buddhist conflict in Rakhine State, Myanmar. From one perspective, the secessionist struggle in Rakhine was largely won by the Burmese military in the 1950-60s, as the major, separate armed rebellions by both Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims was put down. Yet, despite being significan...

The impact of religion on urban planning in colonial Rangoon after the 1852 war, and resultant spatial layout, reflects colonial narratives about identity and power that have fuelled Burmese-Buddhist nationalism and ethnoreligious conflict since independence—including the recent re-emergence of anti-Muslim ultra-nationalism. This chapter explores:...

Effective community development empowers the marginalised, powerless and poor to achieve better life outcomes and a higher level of wellbeing for themselves. This requires imagining their world differently and taking action to change their circumstances, implying a high level of participation and empowerment. Myanmar has been a highly complex and v...

Development in so-called 'fragile states' has become a key priority for the international community over the past few years, but international actors have not yet adequately incorporated sufficiently nuanced understandings of fragility into policies or practices. The increasing proportion of the world's poor living in fragile contexts, the depth of...

Effective development in fragile contexts has emerged as a key priority of international development actors over the last decade or so. This has been driven by a number of factors, including the belief that underdevelopment and security are interrelated, and concerns over the relationship between governance and development. This prioritisation is u...

It has been suggested that the sociopolitical context of Myanmar during the 1990s and 2000s ‘calls into question much of fragile state policy .. [and] creates a new challenge for humanitarian policy’ (Duffield 2008, p. 39). Myanmar has been a United Nations’ least developed country for the past 27 years, and, as the poorest country in mainland Sout...

Development in so-called ‘fragile states’ has become a key priority for the international community over the past few years, but international actors have not yet adequately incorporated sufficiently nuanced understandings of fragility into policies or practices. The increasing proportion of the world’s poor living in fragile contexts, the depth of...

Over the last decade or two, in particular, ‘fragile states’ have been linked in policy discourse with the worst extremes of personal and international security risk, including cross-border violent conflict, extremism, terrorism, organised crime, smuggling, human trafficking and pandemic disease. While factors like poor governance, human rights abu...

Child sponsorship (CS) international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) have a long history of using individual change stories in their marketing materials. However, a feature of the ongoing debate over the merits of CS-funded programmes is the reality that those parts of the discussion accessible in published literature have often been dominat...

This edited volume explores development in the so-called 'fragile', 'failed' and 'pariah' states. It examines the literature on both fragile states and their development, and offers eleven case studies on countries ranking in the 'very high alert' and 'very high warning' categories in the Fund for Peace Failed States Index.

A noticeable shift has been recently observed in Western-based Pentecostal mission agencies' activities in mainland Southeast Asia. Where once these organizations avoided a visible priority on social justice as being at odds with their understanding of mission, the funding for and implementation of such programs has increased dramatically for the l...

Myanmar is undergoing significant political reforms and socio-political changes, which have been more rapid and broad than anticipated by most commentators. While ongoing reforms face significant obstacles and vested interests, and is far from assured, reform to date has already significantly altered the international relations of the state. From a...

Asset-based community development (ABCD) is a highly participatory approach to development that seeks to empower communities to draw on tangible and social community assets to manage their own development. The strength of ABCD is its ability to facilitate people imagining their world differently, resulting in action to change their circumstances. P...

A shift has been observed in the activities of by Western-based, pentecostal mission organisations in mainland South East Asia. Where once these mission organisations avoided formal community development programs as a distraction to their understanding of mission, the funding for and implementation of such programs has increased dramatically in rec...

Development is a difficult undertaking in any environment, but much more so in places such as Myanmar with its “perfect storm” of extreme poverty, international sanctions, and political repression and human rights violations with concomitant conflicts within development organizations over norms and policies. Context-Sensitive Development examines...

This chapter presents analysis of new primary research data collected on INGOs working inside Myanmar. In particular, it looks at the contextualisation they make to common international development approaches, in order to attain greatest effectiveness in this specific context. This research is based on in-depth interviews of forty-seven key informa...

Myanmar is a developing country with significant humanitarian needs. It is therefore a country for which achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) should be a high priority. While exact data are difficult to obtain, Myanmar is performing poorly across most of the MDG targets. This is partly an unintended but direct consequence of the intern...

We are witnessing the beginnings of what could well be significant change in Myanmar. Elections in November 2010 were quickly followed by the release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, then by the resignation of Senior-General Than Shwe, dissolution of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), the opening of parliament, and the inaugurati...

The article analyzes the research data provided by international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) in Myanmar on strategies that maximizes rural community development. It discusses INGO approaches to rural community development and relationship with stakeholders. The study reveals that INGOs right partnership with local officials, equity and l...

Myanmar is a poor developing country with significant humanitarian needs, but international assistance is limited and restricted due to the political situation. Analysis of new primary data collected through interviews both within Myanmar and across the region sheds light on the implementation of principles of best-practice by International Non-Gov...

Myanmar is ruled by a military government that is strongly condemned for human rights abuses. In responding to these allegations, the Myanmar government repeatedly adopt the language of Right to Development as a counter perspective and counter allegation. The Right to Development is not well reflected in the Western human rights discourse, and both...

Myanmar is a developing country with significant humanitarian needs. It is therefore a country for which achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) should be a high priority. However, while exact data is difficult to obtain, Myanmar is performing poorly across most of the MDG targets. This is partly an unintended but direct consequence of th...

Myanmar (Burma) is a developing country with a large proportion of the population living in extreme poverty and a wide range of significant flow-on humanitarian needs. However, international development assistance is very limited due to concerns over human rights violations and governance issues by the Myanmar government. This paper explores whethe...